Painted Gold
by BeyondTheClouds
Summary: Roxas would do anything for his mother ill with heart cancer. But when an unlikely person steps into his life, his priorities waver. It was a romance that was never supposed to exsist, but it didn't stop him from painting the blackbird gold. RokuShi AU.


**Finally, an actual fic. =.= Stupid challenges. I honestly have no idea what this is, but Roxas x Xion is probably my favorite pairing 'sides Terra x Aqua and Sora x Namine. I'm a huge crack pairing person so :P**

**Pairings: Roxas x Xion (main) Riku x Kairi, Sora x Namine. One-sided Roxas x Namine for a while. Grr.**

**Warnings: Roxas and Xion cuteness. Probably typos.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Kingom Hearts, Axel wouldn't have died, all the dudes wouldn't have shirts, and Terra and Aqua would have tons of babies. LOL.**

**Please Enjoy! :)**

**...**

**Painted Gold**

**Chapter One: Shakespeare's Admirer**

Whistling quietly to herself, Roxas walked from the private college he was attending and back to his home. Though he was merely seventeen he'd been able to enroll in a few classes, because apparently he had a gifted mind. Though it was staring to bother him. The stress of balancing college, regular schooling, while still finding time for his friends was slowly edging away at Roxas' sanity.

Anything to make his mom happy, though.

His mother, the mere thought of her made a familiar clenching settle in his heart. She was sick; deathly sick. She'd been that way since he was ten, and he'd forgotten what it was like to have a mother strong enough to take a few steps away from the couch and head into the kitchen to pack his lunch. Or a mother strong enough to even get up off the couch for that matter.

He remembered the day he was ten years old, and walked in on his parents crying. He was so happy. He'd won the science fair from school, recieved a metal, and a bag full of sugary treats. At the time... It seemed like he'd won the world.

His father'd turned to him, anger and sadness in his eyes.

"Roxas... The doctor came to inspect Mom's wounds. She... She has heart cancer."

He ddin't know what that ment, he didn't know what anything cancer related ment. So he smiled, and ran over to his parents.

"So, that's good, right?"

What he never expected was his father to stand up, and outright slap him. Tears welled in his eyes, and his previously crying mother turned to sobs. His father exited the room without another word, leaving the woman to tend to their child- no... _Her _child.

Stepping quietly into his house, he sighed when he saw the beer cans scattered around the floor. Throwing his bag into the shoe closet, he grunted as he bent down to retrieve the cans before his mother asked to be carried downstairs.

"R-Roxas..." He turned to his father, a drunken mess on the dining room table, stacks of unpaid bills fluttering around him.

"You need to wash up, and go to bed." Roxas stated simply. The older man simply groaned, his head slapping on the hardwood table with a tud-like noise.

Roxas sighed and shook his head, placing the beer cans in their recyle bin. Walking as fast as he could up the steps to his mothers room, he saw the dim light appear in the crack under the door.

He knocked.

"Mom?" He asked quietly, pushing the door open with a soft creaking noise.

"R-Roxy...?" She croaked out. Oh noy, she was dehydrated again. But she wouldn't say anything. How was she supposed to get better if she never said anything?

He stepped in the room, his eyes filled with soft anger and worry. Roxas spotted the water bottle knocked over on the floor, and he picked i tup before settling gently next to his mother.

"Yeah, mom?" He said quietly, breaking the silence.

"H-How was school? Are those college classes... Fun?" She asked, her eyes closed with a small smile begging to break free from her cracked lips.

He unscrewed the bottle's cap, and pressed it to her mouth.

"I'm fine, Roxy."

"If you don't drink the water, I won't tell you the secret." Roxas said in mock horror. She cracked an eye open, before opening her mouth slightly; signaling him to pour the liquid inside. He did so, with a smile on his face.

"Tell me."

"Okay, the secret is... I had an amazing day at school." Roxas smiled. His mother let out a hoarse chuckle, searching the sheets for his hand.

"That's nice... Roxy, could you turn the lights off? I need... I need to sleep..."

Nodding, Roxas did so with a grave expression.

She'd gotten worse.

The day before, she was able to sit up and talk without fequent stops to regain her strength, odd as it sounded. It worried Roxas greatly.

All the doctor's had been proven wrong before. Six months to live. One month to live. Two years to live. No matter what they said, they'd always been proven wrong and his mother would still be clinging to the same string of life she'd clung to for the past seven years.

But the string was breaking. It was slowly, strand by strand, breaking away before finally, it tore. And she'd fall.

But he refused to see things that way. She'd live, she'd get better. He never prided himself on the fact but; his family was quite rich. They'd easily pay for whatever treatment she needed, and then she'd get better. Then they would be able to play outside, maybe even get a new dog like they used to.

His mother liked dogs.

So he'd get her one.

His mother liked books.

He'd _buy _her whichever author she desired.

His mother liked peace.

Roxas didn't know how he'd do it, but somehow, someway, he'd bring peace to the world. Simply because his mother wanted it.

He may be considered a mama's boy, but for ten years straight she'd given up everything she'd ever wanted to do to take care of him and be the best person she could be for him.

And now it was time he returned the favor.

**...**

Tuesday morning Roxas awoke to the screeching sound of his alarm. He whimpered, curling deeper into himself. It was one of _those _mornings. The mornings where it was so cold outside, that you dreaded getting up. The mornigs where, somehow in your sleep, you'd managed to align your pillows perfectly into a surrounding cavern. Where you felt so comfortable and warm that it was almost blissful.

Except for that damn alarm blaring next to your forehead.

Groaning, Roxas relished in the seconds he had left in his cozy bed, before he sat up and threw the alarm against the wall.

He was not a morning person.

Sighing, he walked to his mothers room. Seeing she was asleep, he decided not to wake her. He walked downstairs; seeing his father passed out on the couch with the T.V. on. He turned the flatscreen off, before placing a blanket over the sleeping man.

He faintly wondered why he'd willingly accepted the fact that, since he was ten, he'd taken care of his parents instead of the other way around. A day after it started, he already forgot what it was like to have someone take care of him. He... Accepted his fate with good grace, you could say.

Following the usual morning rituals, Roxas ate a bowl of cereal, wrote on the white board on the fridge door the things his father'd have to remember, got dressed, and attempted to comb his hair.

Soon the blond boy found himself walking to his high school in a peaceful silence. A silence he liked.

"Roxas!" He heard a familiar shout. Turning, he saw the red-headed girl he'd come to known as a sister approach him with a smile on her pale face. "Guess what!" She tackled him.

He groaned in pain.

"Yes, Kairi?" He asked, trying to glare but ended up laughing instead.

"You remember my mom's friends daughter Xion, right? She came to my thirteenth birthday party." Kairi said happily, straddling his lap completely unaware of the stares they recieved.

"Who?"

"I cannot believe you!" Kairi groaned, smacking her palm to her forehead. "Seventh grade! Remember Sora shoved you in a closet with her for Seven mintues in heaven?"

Blinking, memories of the night rushed back into his blond mind.

"Oh yeah! The girl who accidentally spilled punch all over my shirt! How could I forget?" He laughed. Kairi stood up and offered a hand which Roxas gratefully took.

"Yup! Anyway, her dad died a few weeks ago, and her mom felt really depressed about it, so we offered them to move in with us. So they're coming to our school now."

"They're?" Roxas asked with a skeptical look as the two made their way inside the empty hallways of their highschool.

"Yeah, her and her older brother Vanitas."

"I don't think I've met him before." Roxas furrowed his eyebows, trying againa nd again to open his locker to no avail. Kairi sighed, before she quickly opened it for him. He muttered a small "Thanks." before grabbing the neccissary materials and heading tohis first period class.

"Yeah, so if you see them, can you be nice? Vanitas may not warm up to you at first, he's taken his dad's death pretty rough. But Xion needs a friend." Kairi said, blue eyes shining with pleas.

"Sure sure."

"Great! See you at lunch!" The red-head waved good-bye as Roxas stepped into his seemingly empty classroom.

A lone raven sat, reading a book against the window. He pale face was calm, and it reminded Roxas of a porcelain doll. As he admired her features, she looked up and Roxas was met with eyes that reminded him of a mual painting, odd as it seemed.

"H-Hello... This is my first period class, and I know I wasn't supposed to be here but it took me a while finding it once and I didn't want to have to search for it again..." She trailed off, biting her lip softly.

"No it's okay. The teacher doesn't really care anyhow. I'm Roxas, by the way." Roxas stated, walking over and taking a seat next to the girl.

"Xion."

"Oh yeah, Kairi told me about you." Roxas noted, flipping through one of his books for soemthing to do.

"You read Shakespeare?" Xion asked, a hint of amusement in her voice.

"Uh... Yeah, I do."

"I adore Shakespeare's works. Especailly page ten of that one you have there." She chuckled, causing a tinge of red to stain Roxas' cheeks.

Instead of focusing on his studies, Roxas re-read page ten of one of many Shakespeare's novels the whole period.

**...**

**Okay, wow, I'm not to sure about this one, but I already have chapter two in mind. :3**

**I love all you readers, just for taking the time to click on this link. XD**


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